Debugging mechanism and debugging register

• US 7,472,310 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2006
• Issued: 12/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ueda, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DIEU MINH T
• Application Number:
  US11/410,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253737A1
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• Field of Search: 714 27- 29, 714/43, 714/46, 714/47, 714/55, 710/65, 710/110
• US Class Current: 714/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/221 to test buses, lines or interfaces, e.g. stuck-at or open line faults

Abstract

The present invention aims at providing a debugging mechanism capable of detecting erroneous read access to a bus slave caused by a synchronization control infringement between bus masters due to a failure of software. Each of a dirty detector and a coherency error detector is used as a detector for monitoring a bus control unit and, during a period that write access corresponding to optionally designated conditions is present on a write buffer, detecting read access corresponding to conditions equal to the aforementioned conditions. A bus master includes a debugging unit. The debugging unit receives a coherency error notification from the coherency error detector to generate a debugging event, breaks an operation of the bus master, and performs various debugging operations while using the debugging event as a trigger.

Claims

1. A debugging mechanism in a system in which a plurality of bus masters share a common bus slave, the debugging mechanism comprising:

a bus control unit for supporting the plurality of bus masters, registering details of write access requested from each bus master upon receiving the write access, and performing a release control of notifying each bus master of completion of access before completion of access to the bus slave and an access order control of not ensuring an execution order of bus access among the plurality of bus masters;

a debugging register for designating conditions of bus access subjected to debugging;

a dirty detector for constantly monitoring an operation of the bus control unit, detecting a period of status disparity between the bus master and the bus slave, the period ranging from registration of write access coincident with the conditions designated by the debugging register in the write buffer to completion of access to the bus slave, and sending a notification about the detected period; and

a debugging unit, provided at the bus master, for treating the notification about detection of the status disparity period received from the dirty detector as an AND condition in detection of a debugging event, wherein

the bus master provided with the debugging unit breaks an operation thereof by using a debugging event generated in establishment of operational conditions optionally designated by the debugging unit, during the status disparity period.

2. The debugging mechanism according to claim 1, wherein during the status disparity period, the bus master provided with the debugging unit adds the generation of the debugging event in establishment of the optionally designated operational conditions to bus master operation tracing information outputted from the debugging unit.

3. A debugging mechanism in a system in which a plurality of bus masters share a common bus slave, the debugging mechanism comprising:

a bus control unit for supporting the plurality of bus masters, registering details of write access requested from each bus master upon receiving the write access, and performing a release control of notifying each bus master of completion of access before completion of access to the bus slave and an access order control of not ensuring an execution order of bus access among the plurality of bus masters;

a debugging register for designating conditions of bus access subjected to debugging;

a dirty detector for constantly monitoring an operation of the bus control unit, detecting a period of status disparity between the bus master and the bus slave, the period ranging from registration of write access coincident with the conditions designated by the debugging register in the write buffer to completion of access to the bus slave, and sending a notification about the detected status disparity period;

a coherency error detector for constantly monitoring an operation of the bus control unit, detecting a read access request coincident with conditions optionally designated by the debugging register, and sending a notification to a bus master requesting read access that read access has been executed to the bus slave optionally designated by the debugging register during the status disparity period, by using the detected result and the notification about the status disparity period detected by the dirty detector read access to the bus slave optionally designated by the debugging register; and

a debugging unit provided at the bus master, for receiving a coherency error notification from the coherency error detector and generating a debugging event, wherein

the debugging unit breaks the operation of the bus master by using the debugging event generated due to reception of the coherency error notification from the coherency error detector.

4. The debugging mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the debugging event generated by the debugging unit due to reception of the coherency error notification from the coherency error detector is added to bus master operation tracing information outputted from the debugging unit.

5. The debugging mechanism according to claim 3, wherein one of the bus masters is a processor type bus master including an interrupting mechanism, and receives from the coherency error detector the coherency error notification as an interrupt request so that a software operation on the bus master is suspended upon detection of a coherency error.

6. The debugging mechanism according to claim 3, wherein one of the bus maters is a bus mater including none of a debugging unit and an interrupting mechanism, and a control master is provided for controlling the bus master, wherein the bus master receives the coherency error notification from the coherency error detector as an error notification specified on a bus protocol, whereby a coherency error generation status is reflected in one of a status register and a status signal on the bus master, and the generation of a coherency error is recognized by the control master referring to the coherency error generation status.

7. A debugging register included in the debugging mechanism according to claim 3, comprising:

a register for designating address conditions for a bus slave as conditions given to a dirty detector and a coherency error detector;

a register for designating a write access detection target bus master, as conditions given to the dirty detector; and

a register for designating a read access detection bus master, as conditions given to the coherency error detector.

8. The debugging register according to claim 7, further comprising a register for designating a bus master for receiving a notification about a result of detection of a status disparity period by the dirty detector.